Happy New Year
by Vixen of Light
Summary: Ash promised he'd meet Misty for New Year...but Misty is tired of waiting. Fluffy fluff fluff.


"_I'll be here at ten, I promise," _she sneered, collapsing heavily into an armchair. Stupid boy. She didn't even know why she bothered to believe him, sometimes. He was always like this; promising to visit, sounding so sincere, and then something incongruous – and Pokemon related – would crop up and he couldn't make it. But this was _New Year_. She'd turned down friends' parties on his promise and where was he? She bit her lip in nervous annoyance.

She could call him, but why should she? This was definitely on _his_ time now. Besides, he might call at the same time and couldn't get through. She refused to believe she'd even _had_ that thought.

11.30. Jeez. She had half a mind to pack up and head on to the party at the house a few doors away and he could just stand in the snow and keep knocking at her door – assuming he was even on his way.

"Ash," she growled, trying to ignore the gnawing ache in the put of her stomach. He was just a stupid, thoughtless old friend with messed up priorities and a total inability to see what was right in front of him.

The television simpered at her in overly cheerful colours and plastic faces. She stared at the fireworks on screen for a moment before turning the screen firmly off and turning her face away. A scrappy old photo of _him_ and her sat on top of the television, in younger, more innocent days, his arm slung casually around her shoulder, laughing. He just didn't _think_.

Right, that was it. She had told herself that was it a few minutes ago but this really was the total, final _it_. She wasn't going to spend midnight alone, and she knew people would be pleased to see her at the party – welcome her, hug her, make it clear she was a high priority. Yeah. She ran her fingers through her thick red hair, jumped up and grabbed her coat, flung it on angrily. And she _knew_, just knew, he'd call the second she stepped outside and then he'd think she didn't want to see him and, just..._agh_. And she quite frankly, right now, only wanted to see him to smack the little _prat_.

11.55. She waited long enough. She could be at the party for midnight if she ran. She opened the door and stepped oh-so slowly over the doorstep, wondering why her whole body was hesitating. It was just...she remembered the last New Year they'd spent together, when he'd drunk a little too much and fallen all over her at midnight and then fallen over the steps, and she'd cackled and taken photo after photo of him thrashing about in the rain and walking into things, declaring his love for the world. Well, his loss this year.

Fireworks started to explode above her and she could hear people shouting and laughing in the distance. Midnight. Yeah, great. And here she was standing in the snow wearing a stupid short black dress, heels, and a big bulky coat and staring into the distance, waiting. Forget it. Forget him. Choking back an angry cry, she marched off towards the houses down the road.

"Misty! _Misty!"_ she stopped, but refused to turn around. She could hear the running footsteps growing louder and louder, could almost _see_ him waving his arms, panicky expression, like so many times before.

"I spent midnight on my own in the damn snow, Ash," she snarled as he came up behind her. "Go on, what's the excuse?" She turned, very slowly, letting him take in her furious expression.

He looked...tired. Flustered. But he usually did.

"I am...so sorry, Misty..." he mumbled. "And you...you look...great. Really, really...great."

She snorted, ignoring the swell of warmth in her chest and waving pointedly at her huge winter coat. "You look...rushed," she injected some acid into her tone. "Although not that rushed, I guess..."

"Misty, it shouldn't have happened, I was so nearly here and then damn Team Rocket turned up – on New Year's Eve, I mean, come ON...another stupid hole. I think they bring that out every year just for tradition." he scuffed his shoe in the snow. "Why didn't you go somewhere else?"

She opened her mouth, paused, and shut it again. Good question. His big, wide eyes watched her, apparently devoid of any underlying motive than genuine curiosity. Not for the first time, she realised he did have rather beautiful eyes.

"Yeah, well," she muttered. "Some of us keep our promises."

He stepped closer, ignoring the cold. "I wanted to...more than anything. Look, I'm..." he sighed, his breath making a warm cloud in the air. "I miss you. I miss when we could spend every day together and it wasn't an issue, when I didn't have to pay through the nose to come and see you, when it wasn't all so, so..._big_, you know? The world, I mean. My world. Our world. I wanted to get that back and I never can any more...there's always something, something stupid, in the way." His voice lowered. "And it matters to me, of course it does, this is my dream. I want to be a Pokemon Master...so much, you know? But...other things matter to me." He grinned, weakly, staring up at her through his lashes. "It was my resolution, you know? To see you more, to make more time for you."

Misty couldn't even feel the cold any more. "It's the new year now," she managed. "So you should be keeping resolutions now."

He leaned so close into her. "I will," he smiled, and tucked his arm through hers. "Now, let's go in and celebrate? It's freezing out here!"

She tightened her arm around his. "I have champagne, you know," she said, airily. "For a special occasion."

"Great," he groaned, jokingly. "Nothing like spending New Year's Day in bed..."

She raised an eyebrow, and he blushed – actually _blushed!_ – and muttered, "With a _hangover_..."

She grinned, leading him through the door into the warm room. As she pushed it shut, pulling free of him for a moment, he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"I meant it," he said, quietly. She tilted her head, and he finished, "You look...beautiful."

Misty smiled, unable to stop herself. Maybe this would be a good start to a New Year, after all.


End file.
